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KGUN
KGUN-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 9, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Tucson, Arizona, United States. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, as part of a duopoly with Sierra Vista-licensed CW affiliate KWBA-TV (channel 58). The two stations share studios on East Rosewood Street in East Tucson; KGUN's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow, northeast of Tucson. Known as "K-GUN", the station operates one low-power translator: K16EO-D (channel 27) in Oro Valley. History The station was founded in 1955 by rancher D. W. Ingram of the Tucson Television Company, Inc., who gave the station his initials, KDWI-TV. It began broadcasting on June 3, 1956. On January 24, 1957, Ingram sold it to H. U. Garrett. Garrett changed the station's call sign to KGUN on March 14, 1957. The change came in part because Garrett was concerned about possible negative connotations with the letters "DWI." Garrett was also an avid Western fan and gun collector, and thought having "gun" in the station's calls would be apropos. The station's original studios were located on North 6th Avenue in Tucson. Garrett sold the station to Cincinnati meatpacker Henry S. Hilberg, who renamed the licensee to KGUN-TV, Inc., on February 1, 1961. Hilberg sold both KGUN and WEHT in Evansville, Indiana to Gilmore Broadcasting in 1964. Gilmore then sold it to May Broadcasting in 1968. May would sell KGUN and sister station KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska) to Lee Enterprises in December of 1986. Lee in turn sold all of its stations to Emmis Communications in 2000. In 2005, Emmis liquidated all of its television properties, sending KGUN and control of KMTV to the Milwaukee-based Journal Broadcast Group, which already owned four radio stations in Tucson. The sale was finalized in December 2005. On March 18, 2008, Journal announced plans to buy CW affiliate KWBA-TV from Cascade Broadcasting Group for undisclosed terms, creating a duopoly with KGUN-TV. On June 3 of that year, the Federal Communications Commission issued a failing station waiver which allowed Journal to buy KWBA, which blamed the loss of its rights to broadcast Arizona Diamondbacks baseball and continued financial losses as the reason for the sale (the special waiver was necessary since the Tucson market already had two co-owned duopolies at the time, and a Journal purchase of KWBA would leave the market with only seven unique station owners). In the waiver, Journal said it would launch a newscast produced by KGUN on the station. The acquisition was completed on July 23, 2008. On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm will retain their broadcast properties, including KGUN, and spin off their print assets as Journal Media Group. The deal made KGUN a sister station to Phoenix's ABC affiliate, KNXV-TV, along with connecting it through statewide coverage to existing sister station and ABC affiliate KTNV-TV in Las Vegas. The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014. It was approved by shareholders on March 11, 2015. The merger was completed on April 1, 2015. Category:ABC Affiliates Category:Channel 9 Category:1956 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1956 Category:Former NTA Film Network affiliates Category:Tucson Category:Arizona Category:E.W. Scripps Company Category:VHF Category:ABC Arizona Category:1957 Category:1987 Category:2009 Category:Laff Affiliates Category:Antenna TV Affiliates Category:Bounce TV Affiliates